WSOPC action continued Friday with the conclusion of event # 7, the $345 buy-in No Limit Hold’em six-handed event. The winner was Tuan Bui Le, a former nail stylist turned poker pro from Newport, TN.
For the win, Le was awarded his second WSOP Circuit gold ring and first place prize money, worth $13,505. In addition, he picked up fifty points in the WSOP Circuit National Championship points race.
Le says he only learned the game a few years ago and admits that just last year, he was unfamiliar with poker terms such as three-betting and pot odds. He was quick however, to pick up and apply invaluable poker tips and strategy from his friends and opponents.
Le took down a ring event in his first-ever major tournament cash back in October at the Horseshoe Indiana Circuit. Since then, he’s enjoyed marginal success on the felt which continued last night here at Chester.
With the fifty points awarded for his win in event #7, Le is a virtual lock to compete in the WSOP Circuit National Championship to be held May 27 at Caesars Palace.
While Le’s victory means that one less seat is up for grabs, the national points race remained mostly static through seven events so far here at Chester with many of the in-the-money finishes going to first-time cashers.
In fact, nearly two thirds of the players who have made final tables here at Harrah’s Chester have never before cashed at the WSOP or WSOP Circuit. Even more than that had no points before cashing at the Chester Circuit.
The event drew 185 players, generating a total prize pool of $51,930. By the end of day one, seven players remained. They resumed play at 2:00 pm on day two and within a few rounds of blinds, were down to an official final table of six. Christopher Wolfe led the pack with Le on his trail.
| Name | Hometown | Seat | Chip Count |
| Rick Franco | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 190,000 |
| Ari Kestler | Baltimore, MD | 2 | 300,000 |
| Mike Epperson | King George, VA | 3 | 185,000 |
| Christopher Wolfe | St. Peters, MO | 4 | 560,000 |
| Tuan Bui Le | Newport, TN | 5 | 340,000 |
| Phil Eustrasio | Swarthmore, PA | 6 | 120,000 |
Sixth Place
The elimination of Matt Iles in seventh place set the stage for the official final table shortly after 3:00 pm with blinds and at 4,000/8,000. The first casualty of the afternoon came at the hands of Tuan Le, who called Rick Franco’s all-in with a six high straight after the river. Tuan showed an eight-high straight to take the pot and send Franco to the rail. Franco is a 31-year-old poker pro from Philadelphia, PA. Sixth place paid him $2,511.
Fifth Place
After running pocket nines from the small blind into Mike Epperson, who woke up from the big with pocket kings, Ari Kestler was left with a single big blind. He was eliminated the next hand by Christopher Wolfe. Kestler is a 28-year-old physician from Baltimore, MD. For his fifth place finish, the good doctor took home $3,304.
Fourth Place
A few hands later, Tuan Le moved his monster pot all-in and Phil Eustrasio came along with his last 65,000. Bui was ahead with A-7 vs, Eustrasio’s K-T, where he remained through the Jack-high board. Eustrasio pocketed $4,423 for his fourth place finish.
Third Place
The third place finisher was Mike Epperson. After moving all-in for a whopping 450k in chips with , Christopher Wolfe made the decisive call and showed pocket tens. Wolfe maintained his lead after the flop came down . The turn and river were no help to Epperson and his tournament run was over.
Epperson is a 42-year-old builder from King George, VA. He earned $6,022 for third.
Second Place
Heads up, it was down to Le and Wolfe. With blinds at 5,000/10,000, Wolfe had a million in chips to Le’s 850k. Le however went to work and had nearly a 4-1 lead over his opponent by the time the 6,000/12,000 level of blinds came around. Le doubled that lead to 8-1 before Wolfe finally made an all-in re-raise with , hoping to put Le off the pot. With Le sitting on , that wasn’t going to happen and the two players saw a final board of , resulting in a runner-up finish for Wolfe, while giving Le his second WSOPC title.
Wolfe is 23 years old from St. Peters, MO. For second place, he collected $8,340. With fifth and second place finishes so far at Harrah’s Chester, Wolfe takes the lead in the all-around casino points race with 62.5, edging Matthew Lope who sits at 60.
While he likely will not need a Casino Championship title to compete in the WSOPC National Event, Le joins previous ring winners Rocco Luciano, Burak Temel, Ken Fischer and Jonas Wexler for third place at fifty each.
Still to come are three ring events. See the complete Harrah’s Chester schedule and previous results here. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Chester runs through May 10th. You can find the complete 2010/2011 WSOP CIRCUIT SCHEDULE here.